On February 25, 2025, Nazarbayev University (NU) President, Professor Waqar Ahmad, hosted a reception for the KAZ-LLM team from the Institute of Smart Systems and Artificial Intelligence (ISSAI). He commended the team’s remarkable efforts in developing KAZ-LLM, a groundbreaking large language model (LLM) designed for Kazakh, Russian, and English. The initiative aims to benefit all sectors of Kazakhstan’s society and economy by addressing local needs through customized artificial intelligence (AI) technology.
As many countries strive to develop their own national LLMs to adapt AI to their unique linguistic and cultural contexts, President Ahmad highlighted ISSAI’s role in positioning Kazakhstan among the leading nations in LLM development.
Established in September 2019, ISSAI serves as a catalyst for research and innovation in Kazakhstan’s digital landscape, focusing on artificial intelligence. KAZ-LLM is a testament to this mission, strengthening the nation’s technological ecosystem and bridging linguistic gaps.
Commending the ISSAI team’s invaluable contributions, President Ahmad expressed his support for their future endeavors, anticipating more innovative projects and successful collaborations.
ISSAI Director, Professor Atakan Varol, noted:
“This project is further proof that NU is emerging as a world-class research university. ISSAI, as NU’s AI research institute, was able to gather a top-notch team of Kazakhstani technical specialists and conduct a project of national significance successfully despite tight deadlines and limited resources. This achievement underscores NU’s enabling research environment and its capability to execute high-impact projects for Kazakhstan.”